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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 34 Number 10
June 2007
Tuna purse seine vessels head to herring fishery
KENNEBUNK, ME – The long-time bluefin tuna purse seine fishery has lost two of its vessels to the herring industry and a third is up for sale.
Mark Bichrest of Harpswell purchased the bluefin purse seiner Ruth & Pat from Sonny and Jimmy Avila of Darmouth, MA, who had the boat built in 2005. Bichrest brought the Ruth & Pat to her new home in Maine on Dec. 30.
“She is heading to Canada to have the gear work done,” said Bichrest in early April.
In late June, the Ruth & Pat will begin her new life as a herring seiner. Bichrest plans to unload herring primarily in his homeport of Cundy’s Harbor, but said he expects to land fish in Portland as well.
Bichrest said he is keeping the name Ruth & Pat. This vessel is one of two bluefin seiners of the same name formerly owned by the Avila family.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to sell the Ruth & Pat,” said Sonny Avila. “Not having access to Cape Cod Bay was the single biggest factor in the decision to sell.”
The dramatic decline in bluefin availability off New England has hit purse seine category vessels hard in recent years, leaving them virtually idle in 2006.
Then last year, the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Commission prohibited bluefin purse seining in Cape Cod Bay for the season in response to heavy pressure from handgear fishermen.
Avila noted that a good slug of fish went through the bay over the years and said the prohibition on bluefin seining there was the last straw.
“I feel so bad about the crew. I’ve had guys fish for me for 25 years,” he said.
Plan-B
The older Ruth and Pat is now owned by Danny Fill of Sedgwick. Fill is the long-time captain of the purse seine vessel Western Sea, where he learned the ropes from well-known herring fisherman Glenn Robbins.
“I bought the boat about a year and half ago,” said Fill in late April. “We have already used her to pair-trawl for herring with the Western Sea.”
Fill changed the name of the former bluefin seiner to Plan-B, with Rockland as the vessel’s homeport.
“I’m getting the permits squared away and doing some work to the Plan-B,” said Fill. “My plan is to use the boat as a carrier vessel and to purse seine for herring.”
He added that the boat would land herring coastwide and that he does not have a set market at this time.
White Dove Too
Also in April, reports began to circulate that a third bluefin seiner was on the market.
Michael Genovese Sr. of Cape May, NJ confirmed that the White Dove Too was up for sale and was listed with the boat broker Athearn Marine.
Genovese declined to discuss the details of the decision to sell the seiner, but added it had a lot to do with the fisheries and the way things are going.
The three other vessels in the bluefin purse seine fishery are North Queen, Kathy Ann, and Diane Marie. All are owned by Leonard Ingrande and are officially homeported in New Bedford.
Bluefin permits
An obvious question about the sale of these vessels is, “What happens to the bluefin purse seine permits?” The short answer is they stay with the original vessel owners and are not transferred.
In 1982, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) established a limited-entry system for the Northeast bluefin purse seine fishery that excluded any new entrants. Bluefin purse seine permits are recognized as one of the first type of limited-entry fishery permits, according to NMFS.
“There were upwards of 21 vessels at the peak of the fishery, although not all 21 vessels fished for bluefin at the same time. But when the door was closed there were five vessels actively fishing,” said Brad McHale of the NMFS Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Management Division in Gloucester.
Managed under HMS regulations, bluefin purse seine permits are a little different than other fishery permits, he explained. Unlike permits for other fisheries such as groundfish, bluefin purse seine fishery permits were given to the “entities” involved and not attached to the vessels.
Bluefin purse seine permit holders can use the permits for replacement vessels, but the regulations state that the seine permit cannot be transferred to outside entrants.
Also unlike other fisheries, the permit can be “split,” with the bluefin seine permit remaining with the corporation and the other vessel permits, such as herring and mackerel, sold with the vessel.
Additionally, permit holders can retain their allocation if they sell the vessel and also can transfer the quota to one of the other bluefin purse seine permit holders.
Another difference in the permitting rules is that replacement bluefin seine vessels can be smaller or larger than the original vessel with no limits on horsepower.
That’s because the fishery is limited by a quota, McHale explained. He called the recent seine vessel sales “an unprecedented circumstance” brought on by the lack of bluefin to harvest.
“The bluefin categories were usually able to harvest the quota, but we are segueing into an area that was not considered in earlier regulations,” McHale concluded.
Sonny Avila is not ready to give up on the historical bluefin seine fishery, despite the recent stretch of bad luck.
“I hope to be back in the fishery soon,” he said.
Rosanne Mizzoni
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